Happy holidays to all! I had the best week ever celebrating my birthday, spending time with my family on Christmas, and best of all having time to finally clean my craft desk. I'm all organized and ready to go. I received some great gifts, but I think my favorites are the Alicia Paulson book and the blue ceramic egg crate that I'm using to sort my buttons. I am determined to work on a doll pattern in the next couple of days before I head out to Chicago...but before I leave, here is one more holiday photo with the chicks! See you in the new year! Here's to health, happiness and lots of crafting and creativity!

I rummaged through my box of stamping supplies this week and was able to find some clear stamps to make these quick and simple holiday cards. I used two separate clear sets (both from Hero Arts), some gray felt, cream cardstock from Paper Source, embroidery floss and some gemstones for that extra holiday bling! Stamping cards is just as fun as designing the stamps themselves!

Next up, I dusted off my Gocco B6 printer and made some blank notecards to give as gifts. I scanned in some old shoe drawings I did almost two years ago and printed them up. Since Riso, the manufacturer of the Gocco stopped making the supplies for their machines, it has been really hard to find bulbs and screens at a reasonable price. However, I managed to get some online at marlenewatson.com. She shipped them to me overnight and apparently always has supplies in stock.

Last but not least, I made an owl pendant for Yamuna, new born daughter to Rance's friends. I only had one night to finish these, but they turned out quite nice...I especially like the orange, purple, and brown combo. I have one more day at work, then I'll have two weeks off to sew and craft! Yippee!

This afternoon, I ran over to Ikea in Emeryville during my lunch break to pick up some holiday napkins, and I found these little guys. Aren't they cute and a little strange? Especially with their long, twisted, gray beards? $2.99 for a pack of 10, complete with the little basket. What a steal! Happy Friday!

I finished these two pillows just in time to give one to Audrey, the beautiful little girl of my friends Tommy and Phuong. She has the sweetest, little button nose I've ever seen! The other panda goes to my nephew Nolan, part two of his Christmas gift. Out of all animal pillows I've made, I think these pandas might be my favorite.

I pre-ordered the Uppercase Gallery book about one of favorite artist/illustrators, Camilla Engman a couple of months ago...and it arrived in the mail yesterday! Along with the book came a bunch of little goodies. A little booklet about Morran (Camilla's dog), 4 postcards, a 2-color print for those who pre-ordered, and a cool little travel tag. I think I first came across her work a couple of years ago, and like most people, instantly fell in love with her playful, lighthearted drawings, as well as her strange characters. Camilla is based out of Gothenburg, Sweden. And so many of my other loves originate from there...especially when it comes to music like Jens Lekman, Air France, jj, The Tough, Jose Gonzales, The Knife, and Little Dragon.

I shipped off a dozen chickens on Friday to Massachusetts. They are for Anita, Rance's mom. I wanted to find a cute way to package them, and it was Rance who suggested using an empty egg carton. Clever, don't you think?